What Inspires My Paintings?

What inspires my paintings year after year? Find out in this blog post.

2017 A New Earth

​A series of paintings created in the lush jungle of Kapoho, Hawaii. The Big Island influences my work in a major way. Namely, in order to achieve my surface textures, I use elements from my environment including: Earth, rainwater, black, white & green sand, rusted metal and coconut fronds. Mostly though, I find that it's the energy felt here on the island (as a result of the constant volcanic eruptions), as well as the rich contrast in the Hawaiian landscape that influence my work. Translating that intensity onto the canvas feels a lot like trying to tame a wild horse.

My paintings serve no utilitarian purpose. That is to say, they are not linked to survival like food, water, shelter, clothing, and human connection are. My paintings are a bridge between the world of physical form and the formless. They are messengers from a different realm. To awaken within the dream: This is A New Earth.

2016 Love Is The Balm

Love Is The Balm is a series of paintings as varied as the environments they were created in: The soft, ethereal grey and taupe of British Columbia. The vigour of Calgary, contrasted by the vast, open expanses of the Alberta prairies. The natural and cultural contrasts of Salt Lake City, Utah. The alarmingly vivid beauty of Hawaii, of which I have only begun to scratch the surface. 

​The paintings in this series were made with locally sourced materials including earth, sand, crushed bone, organic pigments and metallic powders. A year of travel and transformation. This is exactly where I am supposed to be. There is nowhere to get to. I have arrived.

2015 Sunday Best

​Sunday Best is a series of paintings that surfaced as a result of my immersion in the desert-hot summer of Salt Lake City, Utah and surrounding area. During this idyllic time, I climbed the Uinta Mountains, explored the caves of Timpanogos, walked the bone-dry beaches of Antelope Island, and felt the merciless sun of Moab. Red rock, blue sky, golden fields, and white heat.

The American west is a peculiar and mysterious landscape. I have seldom experienced such overwhelming vastness, rawness, and beauty. The majority of the materials used to make these works were sourced within Utah, and these include: Red earth, sand, sawdust, plaster, and various newspapers from Salt Lake City.

​Note that due to the highly textured canvasses and the reflective nature of the metallic powders utilized, paintings may have slightly different colouring than shown.

2015 Spring Favorites

Spring Favourites is a collection of paintings created in Winter/Spring ‘15 in Calgary, Alberta. The artistic retorts to my environment. Having recently come home from Paris, France I can’t help but notice and appreciate the stark contrast between the two cities: One very old and mature, the other, new and youthful. 

Calgary feels to me, like a city that is extremely eager to grow up and that will stop at nothing to do so. Everywhere I look there are signs of new urban developments: buildings, skyscrapers, bridges, and homes rising up at a break-neck pace. As a result, I became inspired to create paintings that look like they have some history and maturity to them. Paintings that “look old” - like they’ve been left outside and exposed to the elements. Imagine what the wind, rain, sun and snow would do to a work of art if it were left outside for a year? I aim to capture this with paint and mixed media. 

​The thought of introducing one of my paintings into one of Calgary’s ultra modern interiors - ripe with stainless steel and concrete - fills me with excitement. I delight in the juxtaposition. Perhaps even further, my paintings might also serve as gentle catalysts to the realization that everything ages, and that one of the few things we can depend on is the welcome passing of time.

2014 Meditations

A series of paintings created before and after my immersive trip to in New York City. "Distressed" surfaces, sharp lines, movement, and painting tittles paying homage to this energetic and ever-changing city are all contained within this series of works.

2013 After Paris

My love affair with Paris began long before we actually met. Meeting "The City of Lights" was everything I thought it would be, and so much more. The colors of Paris are: gold, warm greys, payne's grey, sepia, parchment, rose, van dyke brown and titanium white.